Chapter 35
A Bid
Kodi
When Kean mouthed something to me, my brain went offline.
I couldn’t even understand what he ‘said,’ I was too distracted by the way his lips moved.
I know I told Rosa it wouldn’t take much for me to crack, but fuck, I didn’t think ‘not much’ was gonna be intense eye contact while he was in a suit and saying something only for me.
Honestly, it was insane for him to say whatever it was and expect me to understand him. I hope it wasn’t important, because as he walked back to the announcer, I could not take my eyes off that perfectly firm ass.
“If you don’t fuck him tonight, I’m gonna kick your ass,” Rosa whispered to me with a hiss. “That look was probably the closest thing that man gets to begging.”
“What’re you saying?” Jimenez asked, leaning over his wife’s shoulders. She turned to give him a sharp look and a little shove.
“None of your business,” she said before focusing back on me. “You’re gonna bid on him, right?”
“I …” Fuck, I really wanted to. Especially since it’d be all on his dime. But could I really do that? Here? In front of all these people? “If nobody bids on him, I will.”
“But only then?” Rosa asked, looking at some lady a table away from me.
“Well, yeah. That’s what makes sense, right? It wouldn’t look weird if his PA bailed him out when it gets awkward.”
“But what happens when someone else bids on him?” She was still looking at that one lady, so I turned my focus to her, too.
The woman was around my age, maybe a tad older, but you could only tell that based on how hard she worked to look young.
But she was pretty, long blonde hair, nice cheekbones.
And she was eyeing Kean. Like damn near eye-fucking him.
“That probably won’t happen,” I said, even as I lost certainty of that. “No one really likes him and his resting bitch face.”
“Sure, but you’ve spent a lot of time and energy making him look good on socials. Also he doesn’t have his resting bitch face on right now.”
“No way,” I nearly shouted because there was no way Kean wasn’t making his grumpy bitch face. He didn’t want to be here and he certainly wasn’t the type to enjoy being put on display.
But when I turned to look at him, Rosa was right. He wasn’t frowning, his brow wasn’t furrowed, his eyes weren’t narrowed. Instead, he was looking … soft. There was a small, kind of sad smile on his face that made everything about him feel gentler.
And his focus was all on me.
“And we’ll start the bidding for an evening with Mr. Kean at one thousand.”
Immediately the blonde lady’s paddle went up.
“One thousand going once, going —”
“Fifteen hundred,” another called out and then another, then the blonde again. And on and on it went. All these thirsty ass women bidding on Kean, the number only teetering when it neared 5k.
And holy fuck, I hated seeing it. Like hated it to the point that my stomach churned.
And while all these women were bidding for Kean, I was looking at him.
And he was looking at me, eyes pleading for me to bite the bullet, to take a chance on the attraction between us, to trust that if anything went wrong, he would do whatever it takes to make it right.
And while I was uncertain about what our relationship could be or how well any of this could go, I had the utmost faith in him.
“Six thousand,” I said, holding up my paddle. Rosa gasped beside me, whispering ‘fuck yeah’ in Spanish.
There were some murmurings amongst the women but as the announcer counted down, no one made another bid.
“What a good start,” they said with a single clap. “Mr. Kean, why don’t you join your winner, the lady in red, and we’ll move on to our next player. Mr. Brooker is …”
Kean gave a tight nod to the announcer, then the other players on the team, before taking the steps down, two at a time. I patted Rosa’s arm, leaving her and my bag behind as I went to Kean, meeting him halfway.
“Kodi.” He said my name like it was a struggle to get out. Then his hand reached out for mine, jerking to a stop halfway there.
Without thinking, I took his outstretched hand in mine and intertwined our fingers.
Kean looked down, eyes meeting mine with something set in that bright green.
Then his grip on my hand tightened and he yanked me forward so I landed on his chest, our hands still held together, pinned between us.
His free hand wrapped around my shoulder, hugging me tightly, his forehead rested on the top of my head.
“Thank you,” he whispered into my hair.
“Yeah, anytime,” I said with a nervous laugh.
“Kodi.” His body shook before his grip on me tightened. “Will you go on a date with me?”
“Well, I did just win one, so …” I tried to laugh but Kean squeezed me again.
“Not like that.”
“Oh.” I pulled back and Kean’s grip loosened so I could look at him properly. His jaw was tight, eyes darting all over my face as he searched for hints to how I’d answer. And damn, were his nerve contagious. “Let’s see how this date goes first, yeah?”
Kean sighed and rested his head back on mine.
“Yeah. That’s reasonable.”
And then, so light that I might have imagined it, his lips pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
“I’ll be right back. Then we can … dance? That’s what happens at these things, right?”
“Right, yeah. A little dancing might be nice.”
He gave my hand a squeeze before slipping away and walking over to the bar, leaving me with my heart in my throat and my resolve to stay out of trouble completely dissolved.